Friday, July 22, 2011

Yesterday morning, my Post Office called my cell phone at 6 am. The call was from a restricted number, so it was kind of a surprise.

My package arrived!

We've been wanting to replace some of our hens, since they're getting older and they're not really laying too much anymore.*

Up until now, we've been happy to try a bunch of different chicken breeds. We didn't have a preference, so having various breeds made it so that each chicken was unique, plus we got to see their varied personalities.

Now, we know what we like: Araucanas and Delawares. No more messing around with red hens and black hens and speckled hens--a flock of Araucanas and Delawares is a perfect flock. And, anyway, when it comes to keeping chickens, it's okay that every bird isn't unique.**

IFA (our country store) stopped selling chicks months ago, so I looked all through the local classified ads for young Araucanas. Nobody has them! (I found some older ones, but we were hoping to raise them from chicks, since it seems like that makes a big difference in how our birds turn out.) I also checked with a lady nearby who sells tons and tons of chicks, as a business--but she is all out of Araucanas for 2011.

Hm. So, I ordered them from a company on the Internets!

They required a minimum order of 25 chicks (and they had no Delawares available until the end of August, which is too late), so I ordered 25 Araucana pullets***!

Neat. I figure I can sell the extra ones online.

So! Here we are with more chicks. This time they are in our garage, in a special chick playground that Jess gave us. I'm being extra careful to keep Paley's dish full of cat food. As long as I don't starve her, she should leave them alone.

We've decided to try our best to raise our animals organically, and these chicks are the first to benefit from that--they are eating organic chicken feed! (The adult chickens will finish off our conventional feed, and then we will start buying organic food for them, too.)

That's all I have to say about them for now.

Oh, except, when you order chicks from this place online they always include one rare chick along with your order. I don't know what kind it is, but it has feathers on its feet, so I'm hoping it is fluffy like my little white bird. (She has feathers on her feet too!)

* Time to learn another homesteading skill.** See previous footnote.*** Pullets means they should all be girls.